Of pipelines and GMOs | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

How refreshing to see a Tribune editorial reflect how a free market economy actually allocates resources among competing uses. Contrary to The Tribune's ordinary preference that economic decisions be made by politicians (or editorial writers), the editorial on Washington County's refusal to let competitive water prices determine actual water usage in a desert is quite right in observing that "if Washington County required consume to pay the real price of dwindling water," usage would be curtailed ("Facing facts," Our View, June 23). How true!

The more something costs, the less it will be used (demanded). How refreshing to see you come to the same conclusion ancient thinkers did.

But then, on the same page, I read the "Nature abhors uniformity" column by the "progressive" Tribune editorial writer George Pyle, in which he states that genetically modified seeds only benefit the evil capitalist seed, pesticide and fertilizer companies, "not their users." Why not let economic demand make that decision?

Just as with water users in the desert, if the farmers (buyers) don't benefit enough, they won't use this stuff.

Michael Petersen

Cottonwood Heights